Her latest release, Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha (AMKDT), gave actor Saiee M Manjrekar a chance to work with her on-screen idol, actor Tabu. Saiee, who played the younger version of Tabu’s character, says, “I was a nervous wreck initially as she is an artiste I have looked up to all my life. But after a lot of workshops and training, I became calmer.”

Recalling her first meeting with Tabu, the 22-year-old says, “Neeraj sir (Pandey, filmmaker) called me to his office and Tabu ma’am was there. He told me she’d read out my lines and I’d have to remember her tonality. I was blabbering nervously while she delivered my lines.”

While she had a great time working on AMKDT, the film’s box-office failure did leave her disappointed. “The film was made with a lot of love and hard work. So, it was disheartening,” she says.

So, how does her father, actor and filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar advise her to deal with failures? “I have seen my father go through tough times and I’ve learnt a lot just by observing him,” Saiee says.

While she hopes that AMKDT finds its audience on OTT, the actor is certain that the charm of the big screen will never fade away. “I feel the thrill of watching a film on the big screen will never go away. Eventually, when you find the pulse of the audience, it will all come back. It’s just about timing, I think AMKDT’s timing was wrong,” she says.